Fuerteventura, a Spanish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain)island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island), is one of the Canary Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands), in the Atlantic Ocean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean) off the coast of Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa). It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west. At 1,660 kmē it is also the second largest of the islands
The first settlers are believed to have arrived here from North Africa - the word Mahorero (Majorero) or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and comes from the ancient word 'mahos' meaning a type of goatskin shoe worn by the original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, a few of which have been discovered and excavated revealing relics of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known as Planaria, among other names, in reference to the flatness of most of its landscape.
In the 11th century BC, the Phoenician (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia) settlers arrived in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. In 850 BC, the island was mentioned by Homer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer) in the Odyssey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey), the Canary Islands as Insulae Fortunatae.
Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions occurred in about 1340 around the island and the island were inhabited by Maurs and were afflicted with European slave holders
The elongated island has an area of 1660 kmē. The island is 100 km long from and 31 km wide.
It is part of the province of Las Palmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Palmas_%28province%29).